Samsung Electronics just delivered one of the starkest warnings yet about the global semiconductor supply crunch. During its Q2 2026 earnings call on July 30, Executive Vice President Jaejune Kim told investors that memory chip shortages will intensify through 2027 and won’t ease until at least 2028.
A tale of two divisions
Samsung’s quarterly numbers tell a story of an industry being reshaped in real time. The company’s semiconductor operating profit hit 89.2 trillion won, roughly $61.7 billion, in the second quarter. That figure represents a more-than-250-fold increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
Samsung’s overall group operating profit reached 89.5 trillion won, meaning its chip business accounted for nearly all of it. The company has locked in multi-year supply agreements with the five largest global data center operators, contracts that now cover approximately two-thirds of Samsung’s total memory output.
Samsung’s mobile division posted a loss of 700 billion won, its first quarterly deficit ever. The reason is almost painfully ironic: Samsung’s own memory chips have become so expensive that they’re driving up the cost of Galaxy devices, which in turn is cooling consumer demand for those phones.
